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leavetaking: the FAQs
Is my school supportive about time off? How many students do take time off? Do most students return to their school after time off? How can I find funding for my time off? How will taking time off affect my financial aid? What about health insurance during my time off? Does Venture offer assistance with finding affordable housing where I will be doing my Venture internship? Are there other resources besides the College Venture program? YES! As a member of the Venture Consortium, your school is committed to the value of taking time off from school, and the experience as potentially being beneficial for your overall undergraduate education. Nationally, the majority of students at four-year colleges do not complete their degree requirements in four years. According to a March 19, 2003 online article in the Chronicle of Higher Education ("Fewer College Students Graduate in 4 Years, Survey Finds"), in a study by the Higher Education Research Institute at UCLA, 56,818 students at 262 four-year colleges were surveyed. 36.4% completed their bachelor's degree in four years, and 57.6% completed their degree in six. A comparable survey in 1989 showed that about 40% of students completed their degree in four years. At Venture schools, many more students graduate in four years, but a sizeable number of students take more time; for example, at Brown, for classes entering 1988 to 1998, on the average, 91.1% graduated within five years and 93.0% graduated within six years. (Office of Institutional Research, Brown University) While some student use their time off experience to determine if they would like to transfer to another school, most students who take time off return to their school and graduate. 90% of the positions listed in the College Venture job bank are compensated in some way. Many internships out there right now do pay or offer some kind of compensation. Check out our funding information page for help on how to find funding for your time off. If you receive financial aid for college, a little financial planning regarding your leave can make the transition much smoother. you should keep in mind that Stafford loans and Perkins loans have "grace periods." In other words, if you are not enrolled in school and are taking a leave, your 6-month or 9-month grace period will begin to be used up. Note that the summers do not count toward your grace period allotment. In order to avoid your loan payments coming due, plan your leave accordingly. For example, say you are planning to take the spring semester off. That means you will not be in school from January through may, so five months of your grace period are used up. If you are returning to school the following fall, then your should plan to re-enroll at your school as soon as possible, so that you are officially "enrolled" in May/June. The ticking of your grace period ends with the first day of class. If you are planning to take the fall and spring semester off, it behooves you to declare your leave of absence in August, so that your grace period only begins ticking in September. Being away a full acedmic year means that 9 months of your grace period are used. (Being away for the fall means that only 4 months are used.) Once you graduate from school, if you only have a couple of months or 0 months left on your grace period, and if you cannot start repaying your loans right away, the process of applying for what's called a hardship deferral is fairly straightforward. You need not default on your loans if you find out how to apply for a hardship deferral. Many Venture students on financial aid have taken time off. We strongly recommend that you meet with your financial aid officer to plan your time away and to discuss the implications of your grace period once you graduate. They can also advise your as to how your leave may impact any internal of external scholarship money you may be receiving. The more you know about the conditions under which you receive this money, the better able you will be to plan your leave in order to ensure a smooth transition back to school. If you are on your school's health insurance plan, these plans often allow you to continue on the plan during your time away. If you are on your family's plan, look into whether you can remain on the plan, which you very well may be able to do if you are under 21. When researching other programs, note that they might not cover residents of certain state. Some states do not allow you to purchase short-term health insurance. Unfortunately, finding short-term health care insurace can be difficult. If you want to purchase insurance for a short time period, check out these possibilities.
> does venture offer assistance
with finding affordable housing where i will be doing my venture
internship? Not directly. However, we suggest you do the following: • Speak with your College Venture Program Coordinator about this - their office may be able to connect you with leads to affordable housing or students / alumni networks for apartment sharing in major cities. • When you interview for the job, ask the employer for affordable housing leads. Many Venture employers are very willing to supply a list of suggestions. •You can also check out useful websites by clicking here. YES! If your are interested in job-hunting and time off resources, you can- • Meet your College Venture Program Coordinator, and visit your campus career center. • Visit other offices or individuals on your campus that may have job information - your center for public service, multicultural center, professors, alumni office, etc. • Venture also recommends many additional web sites, programs, and resources. Click here to view the list that we have compiled. (back to top) |
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